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Jewish World Review /Feb. 25, 1999 / 8 Adar, 5759
Jonathan Tobin
Changing Our Minds on School Choice
THE JEWISH COMMUNITY MUST OFFER MINORITIES more than platitudes about
separationism and public-sector solutions that have already failed.
Is the organized Jewish community capable of changing its mind on an issue?
Though politicians do it every day , probably the hardest thing for any
group with integrity to do is to change its mind in public. But that is
exactly what some American Jews are asking the organized community to do on
the issue known as vouchers, or school choice, which Jewish groups have
historically opposed.
Vouchers are back in the news this month as Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge has
presented a bill to the Keystone State's legislature designed to give
parents in designated areas grants as alternatives to their local public
schools. Other voucher initiatives are also pending in other localities.
Though vouchers come in an almost infinite variety of plans, the principle
behind all of them is simple: Give parents back some of the money they pay
in taxes and let them use it for tuition at the school - private or
religious - of their choice.
One reason for this opposition stems from a passionate belief that even
indirect government funding of private or parochial education is the thin
edge of the wedge that will destroy the "wall of separation" between church
and state in our democracy. Issues such as sectarian school prayer are
rightly seen as threatening to the rights, as well as the sensibilities, of
Jewish students and parents.
THE FUNDAMENTALISM OF LIBERAL INTELLECTUALS
Only a generation ago, Jewish religious schools were confined to the most
fervently Orthodox communities. The only large-scale parochial school
system was Catholic. It was seen by most Jews as exclusionary and a danger
to democracy. Only the public schools guaranteed Jews a place in American
society. Though these circumstances have changed, unfortunately, our
thinking speaks more to the realities of the 1920s than to today.
But many American Jews are beginning to question rigid separationism - the
fundamentalism of liberal intellectuals - because it conflicts with two
vital interests of the Jewish community.
The most specific of these is American Jewry's increasing stake in the
growth of the day-school movement. Anyone who is serious about the
continued survival of American Jewry knows that Jewish day schools are
essential to the Jewish future.
JEWISH SCHOOLS STAND TO BENEFIT
The plight of children stuck in inner-city schools in a state of collapse
is not something that Jews can afford to ignore. Public education, once the
hallmark of an upwardly mobile society, has deteriorated to the point
where, in many cases, it has become a death trap for America's poorest
citizens. That's why there is increasing support for choice among
African-Americans.
Some ideologues would prefer to divert the discussion of this issue into
the intellectual dead end of racism. Others make strong arguments for
increasing funding to public schools, but as welcome as that would be, it
won't solve all of public education's problems.
The real alternative is to offer parents a choice --- and therefore a chance
for their children to succeed.
A Jewish community committed to social justice must at some point ask
itself if it is only prepared to offer minorities platitudes about
separationism and public-sector solutions that have already failed.
School choice is not a panacea for the ills of America's urban areas any
more than it would magically solve Jewish continuity problems. But it is a
healthy step in the right direction and deserves a full trial. Well-crafted
choice plans will not destroy the public schools, nor will they compromise
our constitutional rights. They will empower parents of every race and
religion to help save their children.
A Jewish community that believes these children are made in the image of
G-d just as much as our own cannot afford to stand in the way of choice for
narrow ideological reasons.
For the most parochial as well as the most universalist of reasons,
American Jews have good reasons to support school
Given what is still a strong consensus on this issue, there is probably
little likelihood of this happening. But a crack is widening in the wall of
Jewish consensus on this issue.
Though this "wall" is vital, in practice, it is not absolute. The fact is,
government has subsidized religious education on the college level via
government grants, such as the G.I. Bill of Rights, for more than half a
century without jeopardizing the existence of the republic or threatening
minority rights. And the courts have wisely begun to move even further in
the direction of allowing reasonable interaction between religion and state
through programs like school choice.
The key to understanding the rigid separationism of the Jewish community is
to be found in our devotion to the public-school system itself. A century
ago, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise referred to America's public schools as
"temples of liberty."
Unfortunately, the cost of this education is prohibitive for most
middle-class Jewish families. It may be argued, with justice, that the
primary responsibility for alleviating this burden rests on the Jewish
community itself. But even as we begin to address this, other needs
continue to claim a major share of scarce Jewish funds. Unless a revolution
occurs in Jewish life to address the tuition problem, day schools could
become merely the Jewish equivalent of prep schools for the rich.
School-choice plans might be the way to make day schools an affordable
alternative to public schools for the Jewish middle class.
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND SCHOOL CHOICE
The most pressing Jewish interest that dictates support of school choice,
however, has less to do with the parochial interests of the Jewish
community than it does with social justice.
JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.
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